Delhi needed the tired shoulders of Gambhir and gusty knock from a veteran of domestic cricket to beat a charged up Chennai side. Chennai performed below-par with the bat as they reached 112 runs in 20 overs but they threw whatever they had at the visitors but in the end it was not enough.

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Dhoni had the luck of the coin as he elected to bat first on a pitch that looked hard. Nannes who was making a comeback troubled the openers with some aggressive short-pitched deliveries and was unfortunate not to get Hayden who chipped lamely over the bowler's head where Gambhir made a meal of the skier. But fortunately it did not cause much harm as Hayden (1, 5b) was dismissed by Nehra who cleverly shortened his length. Dhoni (0, 2b) promoted himself up the order but could not keep a well-directed bouncer from Nannes as he pulled it straight to Manhas positioned perfectly at square-leg. The bouncer strategy continued to work wonders for the Delhi Daredevils as Murali Vijay (17, 11b, 3x4) found a bouncer from Nehra too hot to handle.

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At 23 for 3 in 3.4 overs the Super Kings found themselves in deep hole and it simply got worse for them as Raina (15, 19b, 2x4) and Hussey (15, 18b, 2x4) courtesy some canny bowling from Dilshan and Sehwag. Once Morkel (1, 4b) fell things got bleaker for the home-side. All the hopes rested on Badrinath's shoulders as he nudged around for ones and twos to keep the scoreboard moving while his partners came and went in the blink of an eye.

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Badrinath found an unlikely support in Bollinger as the pair added 35 in 3.5 overs to push the score to 112 in their 20 overs.

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The Delhi side must have thought that they could simply saunter to the target but their dreams were shattered. Dhoni brought in Ashwin to bowl the first over and he responded by removing Warner (0, 2b) and the drama unfolded in the second over. Bollinger bowled one fast and full outside the off-stump and Sehwag went for a booming cover-drive and edged it. On more than one occasion the ball would have lobbed over the slips for a boundary but today he found a huge Hayden in the way who timed his jump well to intercept the flight of the ball and soon the visitors were 5 for 2.

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It soon became 6 for 3 when Dilshan (1, 2b) failed to spot the inswinger from Bollinger and went for an expansive drive but succeeded in inside-edging it onto the stumps to leave the visitors in disarray. Gambhir and Karthik were entrusted with the job of bailing the visitors out and they very nearly did the job. The pair did not got for the big hits but relied on the running between the wickets as they kept the visitors afloat. The pair added 32 in 5.2 overs before Karthik (13, 16b, 1x4) suffered a brain-freeze. The keeper-batsmen went for the pull but could only succeed in hitting it as far as midwicket where Badrinath who kept his cool under a skier and took it comfortably.

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The hosts seemed to have a small window of opportunity as Gambhir was joined at the crease by Manhas and more importantly the former was cramping. But the pair did not panic as they concentrated on getting the singles to keep the scoreboard ticking. The pair added 75 in 11.4 overs as they reached the target of 113 to help Delhi Daredevils get the crucial two points.